Review of We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) by Adamjneve — 19 Aug 2015

We Need To Talk About Kevin is a tedious, meandering mistake of a movie. It started out strong with La Tomatina, and though it quickly jumped into Jesus imagery, it sort of made sense as foreshadowing for that character's long-suffering and masochistic journey through motherhood. I also enjoyed the use of color. You will notice that the colors from Kevin's target (red, yellow, blue, and white) feature heavily in nearly every scene. At times, however, this use of color gives the movie an inappropriate Wes Anderson feel.

In every other sense, this movie is a failure. The characters are one dimensional studies in absolutism. This character is EVIL, this character is SUPPORTIVE, this character is UNHAPPY. The symbolism is oppressive and used like a mallet. Everything EVIL eats is bloody or shaped like a body part. EVIL is MEAN. The narrative is jumbled, sometimes purposefully, sometimes not. And the story itself is... ludicrous. At times it feels like a social commentary on parenting, but at others it's a character study of a sociopath, and the movie doesn't know what to be when. The performances are lackluster, at best, especially for Tilda Swinton. There's just... nothing worth watching in this movie. See something else.